Oliver skidder.

Got another chance to warm up the 77 Standard this weekend. Had 3 100+ foot firs that were about dead when we moved in here and are very dead now, had to come down. This is the last one up. Buddy from town does removals on the side so I had him chunk them from the top down but watched closely for possible problems. Found one good crack in one and two in another. We made sure and got him out of the air before I tugged the chunks down with the tractor and lots of cable. He'd leave about 3-4 inches uncut and I'd bust them off. These were against the hiway so the cable was a double safety situation.

The last one down made me giggle. We topped about 60' off and when it came time for the bottom he didn't cut as much as he should have. I had the line doubled and pulling off to the side so I wouldn't be a target and even with that when the face cut v ran out the tractor dang near stopped, almost. SNAP and away we go. Split the stump down at least a foot where it went under ground.

I get to borrow the use of a family friend's band mill and make lumber. Max length I need is 12' so I'm bucking them to a bit more and piling them to load on the flatbed trailer. They're dry enough that the 77 will pick up 20-24' of 20" completely off the ground. Good ole Shawnee loader.